


The Little Princess

by NikaAnuk



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Arthur-centric, Bruises, Couch Cuddles, Domestic, Families of Choice, Family Fluff, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Parenthood, Protective Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:41:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4048360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikaAnuk/pseuds/NikaAnuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I cannot fail to notice that you are in your boxers, Arthur, and taking your lack of imagination, this is probably what you call a pyjamas.”<br/>Arthur rolls his eyes and doesn't comment, because he is a professional, even when he's on his knees, in his bathroom, in the middle of the night stitching Eames. Professional, you see.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Little Prince

**Author's Note:**

> And again, my love goes to Arinsar for helping me with this one. I know it was hard, darling.  
> You were right about the man again, he is amazing! 
> 
> All mistakes are mine.

There are only three people to whom Arthur owes something. One of them is Mal - for taking him out of the place where he ended up after he had left the army (and even if she always told him that they were fine, he knew better), there was Josh, his ex-colleague who helped him out of the army. And there was Eames - who helped him to hide once when Arthur was very young and was just starting with the whole Dreamsharing community and made an enemy with the wrong people.

 

Mal was long dead – though he could pay back her children and Dom - Josh was probably too (Arthur had no information from him for years) and the only person left, who could come and  unexpectedly collect his debt was Eames. 

 

And, who would imagine, he did. The very last night he should, Arthur was going to meet with a quite charming man, they have been spending so much time together lately, and of course, when they were going on a  _real_ date, Eames had to call. Because he wouldn't be himself if he didn't spoil everything - Arthur thinks, driving to the place where Eames told him to, seriously believing that the man is keeping a track of Arthur.

 

The real reason why he is so mad, of course, is not Eames but the fact that Arthur is so tired of being alone and so frustrated and he really believes he could have at least decent sex tonight. But not if Eames has anything to say about it. And one could believe that he is the very last person to cock block his colleagues. And it is eight pm, and Arthur was supposed to be on a  _real_ date, so he feels completely okay with his complaining. 

 

The weather clearly is Eames' job as well - it is raining, the night is dark and looks like cut out from some  _film noir_ . So much Eames.

 

He stops at the theatre and gets out of the car. At first he does not recognise Eames as he is not alone. There is a shorter figure next to him reaching only the hight of Eames' elbow. Arthur feels fear sinking deep in his stomach. There will be troubles there, he knows it.

He approaches Eames anyway because he has already come here and because he owes him for saving his life and you can rarely pay back such debt. 

When he comes closer he sees that the short person is a child wearing a too big dark blue jacket. They are standing in the crowd in front of the theatre and one could think they are waiting to buy tickets. 

 

“Arthur” Eames says and more than his beaten up, bloody face, his voice scares Arthur. It's weak and tired and Eames looks like he is just going to collapse. “Thank you. I need your help with Sophie” he gestures to the child. “Take her somewhere safe.” He asks.

 

Arthur stares at him and at the child and he is not sure what to do about the request and about the situation. His first impulse tells him to just turn around and run but this is not him, he couldn't leave like this. He braces himself.

 

“Is she yours?” he asks. Which is wrong and kind of an asshole, but he just couldn't bare if this was Eames' child. He couldn't tell why.

 

“No, she's not. Can you take care of her?” he asks again and Arthur just nods. 

 

He knows a desperate man when he sees one. Eames kneels down next to the girl and talks to her quietly, she looks at Arthur then at Eames again and she nods. Then she reaches her hand towards Arthur and he awkwardly takes it. He never had much to do with children, he's not sure how to deal with them until they are hostages.

Eames stands up again.

 

“Thank you.” Is the last thing Eames says and then just disappears in the crowd. 

 

Arthur realises that Eames didn't say 'good bye'.  Maybe he wasn't sure if he is coming back...

He looks at the girl who's waiting patiently. Arthur turns around and leads her to his car. Then he sits her on the passenger seat and drives away. 

 

He takes a ride around the city, just to make sure no one is following him and just then, when he is sure it is safe, he drives home. By the time he parks his car in the garage, the girl is asleep. He takes her out carefully but she only stirs a little and does not wake up. He takes her upstairs, not sure what to do next. 

 

His apartment is not suitable for children, there's just one bedroom and huge living room, there are no toys and shit, only one bed. Can he put the child on the couch? He does it at the end, takes off her jacket and even covers her with a blanket. Then he lefts the light in the kitchen on, fixes himself a drink and sits in the armchair, watching her as she sleeps. 

 

Only now he has time to analyse the situation. The girl was not Eames' daughter, she could be a family though, as far as he could say, there was something familiar in her face. Maybe a niece then. She was around eight - big girl, Arthur hopes she is a clever one. They are running away, someone is chasing them. Eames probably just left her here until he will get rid of the people.  _If_ he does. Arthur frowns and takes out his phone, he needs to know how big chances Eames has, to be sure that he does not need help. It is his child after all. 

 

He falls asleep in the armchair at three in the morning, tired as dog and worried - because Eames is in big trouble and they got his family and apparently he is now after vendetta. As much as Arthur regrets this, he couldn't blame him. 

 

***

He wakes up when someone is staring at him. He stirs and then opens his eyes - the girl sitting on the couch is like a creature from a nightmare. In the morning light she looks pale, her face is scratched, her long hair loose around her face and Arthur almost jumps.

 

“You're awake” he says and tries to sit straight and to look more relaxed than he is. Bloody hell. 

 

“Yes” she answers in a matter of fact tone. That makes her a bit more real. “Can I have some tea please” She asks next and she sounds so British... Arthur reminds himself that Eames indeed brought her all the way from Norfolk. 

 

“Yes, sure.” He gets up and walks to the kitchen. To be quite honest, he is not sure if he has any tea. He looks through the cabinets and finds the last three tea bags. So he needs to do some shopping. 

 

“Uncle James told me I will stay with you” she says, sitting at the table. 

 

Arthur freezes for a moment trying to get the grip of what is she is talking about, but she is Eames' niece so she's probably meaning him. That's why you should never let a child talk about yourself, they have no idea about secrets whatsoever.

 

“Does he?” he asks and turns on the electric kettle. “How do you feel?”

 

“Cold” she admits and Arthur feels rush of fear, what if she gets sick? “Uncle said I shouldn't be worried and that I'll be safe here.”

 

“Did he tell you where is he going?” he asks not looking at her, wondering what to do to stop the child from getting sick. Can he give her medications?

 

“No, she just said 'I've some business to do, petal. You're better be safe with Arthur, he's a good fellow'.”

 

This time Arthur turns around. For a second he really heard Eames' saying this. But there is only a girl in the room. 

Wait, maybe that's it. Maybe it's just a dream... He turns to take out a mug and casts his die, but it just lands on three as usually. Not a dream then. 

 

“You are good with his voice, you know” he says, bringing her tea. 

 

She smiles a little and shrugs. “My mum taught me.”

 

And before Arthur could consider it, he asks. “What happened?” 

 

It is not his business, he should not be asking, especially eight years old girl who clearly just lost her mother. But here he is - the master of delicacy.

 

“There... We had a supper. Uncle Eames came by and he said we need to hurry, papa was angry with him and they started to argue... And then... Everything started to be so loud...” she goes even more pale and Arthur curses himself for asking. Fucking curiosity. Few tears escape her eyes but she quickly wipes them off her cheeks. “Uncle had a gun and he told me to run. I hid in my room, in the wardrobe, but he came in and took me out and we escaped through the window and we fell out and started to run. And he had a car. And he said I need to hide... It was dark and there were lights and we were running away...” She starts to sob and Arthur reaches to place his hand on her shoulder. He was the one who made her cry in the first place.

 

He can imagine the escape, the chase in the city, night, a car following them along whenever they went. It was probably only to Eames' training that they made it alive. And now Eames dropped her on Arthur's doorstep and left to go after them.

 

Arthur sighs lightly.

 

The girl is still sobbing but Arthur starts to think rationally. She is in dirty clothes and she may have some bruises or cuts needing dressing. If they came here from United Kingdom, she probably hasn't eaten for at least two days, and even if so – probably nothing better than the airplane food. He waits until she starts breathing normally, making a to do list. 

 

She looks at him finally, face red and ugly from crying. He barely notices that she ruined his shirt.

 

“Drink your tea and I will prepare your bath and find you clean clothes” he says in a matter of fact tone and she nods. 

 

He is really glad that she doesn't fuss more about it or that she doesn't cry all the time, or whatever scared little girls do. 

 

He walks to the bathroom, which is a man's bathroom, there are no bubble bath, no puffy towels not even a neutral shampoo. He is a man and this is his bathroom. What the hell is he going to do with the girl? He hopes she can wash herself, it would be the last day in the history of the world when he helped a little girl to take a bath.

 

He turns on the water checking if it's not too hot - how hot is 'too hot' for a little girl? - and checks out his phone, starting to google 'how to take care of a child?'. Half of the results are for smaller children and the rest cannot help him at all, since his situation is rather unusual. He quits google and returns to the kitchen to take Sophie to the bathroom. 

 

She drank her tea and now she is sitting by an empty mug, looking around.

 

“Are you hungry?” he asks her, because she looks like she might be.

 

The girl turns to him and just now - when the light is less ghostly - he can see that she has the same green-greyish eyes like Eames.

 

“No, thank you.” 

 

“Fine, come” he walks to the bathroom. “Here's the soap, you have to use my shampoo, there's a toothbrush.” he says and takes the towel out of the cabinet. “There. Anything else?” 

 

He looks at her, at the dirty jeans and yellow sweater with a tore sleeve. She shakes her head and he leaves, happy that she didn't do Bambi eyes saying: 'I can't do this' or something similarly stupid. He really doesn't know children. 

 

So he does not have clothes for children. Not even for women any more - he had an episode with them, but he was eighteen then - so he just takes a t-shirt with Garfield (the only not-white one in his closet) and the smallest boxers he can find and goes back to the bathroom.

He waits a little longer, just to make sure that she is not undressing or something and just then he knocks.

 

“Come in!” he hears and when he opens the door, she is sitting in the bathtub, with arms around her knees and he is careful to not look at her. 

 

“Here, you can change into this, I will wash your clothes later” he says, leaving the clothes on the washing machine and leaves.

 

“Thank you” he hears before he closes the door.

 

In the kitchen he goes through his fridge but there's nothing there, he knows it. And even if she says she is not hungry, he knows better. When she feels better, maybe has some more sleep, she will be  _very_ hungry.

 

Can he leave to the shop to buy something? No, she shouldn't be left alone, he knows it. She may leave any minute and then she will see an empty flat, she may think something stupid, like something happened or - God forbids - that he wants to betray her, and there will be only problems because of it.

He finally finds a cereal bar with chocolate and chocolate cookies and for now it must be enough.

 

When she leaves the bathroom, Arthur is in the kitchen, reading news on the laptop. British news actually. From Norfolk, more specifically.

Who did it - Arthur doesn't know - but there is information about the fire in the house of well-known actress - Linda Smith. When he hears footsteps, he casually closes the tab, knowing she shouldn't read it and turns to her. 

She looks better when she is clean, the cuts on her face look better too, but he can see some on her hands as well. 

 

“May I?” he asks gesturing towards her hands. 

 

She shrugs. She looks small in the t-shirt, it is too big for her and it covers even the boxers and reaches down to her knees. He walks closer to her, she smells with his shampoo and there is something thrilling about this, he can't really say why. 

 

“It's from when I fell out of the window with uncle” she says quietly. “But he has worse, he was bleeding.” 

 

Arthur doesn't tell her that as long as Eames walks it means that's the wound is not that serious.

 

“He will be fine” he says instead, because he knows Eames will be. Even he would never have balls to leave a child under Arthur's care and then just die. No one would. 

 

“When do you think he will be back?” she asks and he turns to make her tea and to give her cookies and cereal bar. 

 

“I don't know. When he is finished” he hopes she's not going to ask about everything now. 

 

She smiles at the cookies. “Can I eat them in bed?” she asks.

 

Arthur freezes. Bed. Where the hell is he going to find her a place for sleep? She is a child, she cannot sleep on the couch all the time, if she ever says something about it in public, he will have problems with child care... 

 

“Yes” he says quickly, before he starts to picture himself in the court, trying to explain why is she living with him in the first place. 

 

Then he shows her the bedroom and she looks around quickly and then gets under the duvet. 

 

The bedroom is the biggest room, the bed is low and wide and great windows let a lot of light inside. There is just one wardrobe and nothing more.

 

“Do you want me to cover the windows?” he asks but she shakes her head and opens the cookies. 

 

Just now he realises he will have the bed full of crumbles but now it is too late, he thinks. He brings her the tea.

 

“Mum lets me eat muffins in bed when I'm sick” she says and suddenly her smile drops. _Oh fuck,_ Arthur thinks expecting more tears but Sophie just stares at the same spot for a moment before she collects herself and she says. “Thank you.”

 

“If you need anything just tell me” Arthur says and leaves her in the room, going in his head through everything what's in there. The worst she can find is a dildo, about which she won't know what to do, the PASIV and his spare gun - because you can never be ready _too much_ – are locked. So there's nothing she could hurt herself with. 

 

A little calmer, he takes his laptop to the living room to search any information about the girl, her mother and - partly - Eames.

 

Linda was playing in theatre and giving lessons for children. Apparently her daughter had bigger career now than she would ever have. Sophie played in a school theatre and on one picture - from  _Peter Pan_ , where Sophie played Wendy - Arthur sees Eames, standing next to them, Sophie is younger, still in her costume, Linda smiles proudly. It takes Arthur few seconds to recognise Eames and to make sure it is him, after all. This is incredible, how good he can fake himself even in the reality. 

 

The school website has few more articles and then Arthur moves to the news. They still don't know what caused the fire, they are not sure how many people died in there and, apparently, they don't know anything, that's why they ask for any help. This is ridiculous.  _He_ could solve this faster. But it doesn't matter anyway, Arthur thinks, Eames will get to them first and then there will be nothing left for the police. 

 

Then Arthur starts to work, because he has few projects to finish, Cobb asked for a favour and there's still this job for Adamsky, so he has things to do. When few hours later he raises his head from the laptop, the flat is very quiet. He gets up slowly and quietly comes to the bedroom door, he hears nothing. He opens it and sees only a figure under the duvet, rest of the cookies on the floor. In the first impulse, he wants to pick up the trash but then he reconsiders it and only closes the door. She is asleep, never show anyone who is asleep, how easily you can approach them. Or they will never sleep again. 

 

The girl wakes up around seven and by the time Arthur decided they can order a meal and he is now waiting for her to leave the bedroom. In the meantime he is keeping his eye on the news, just to make sure that Eames didn't do anything stupid while chasing the killers. Few government agencies would be more than happy to catch him and Arthur had somewhere a list; just in case.

 

Sophie comes out the bedroom after he hears her stirring. She goes to the bathroom and then comes to him. Her hair is messy, the t-shirt crumbled, her face matches Garfield unhappy expression, it's obvious she was crying at some point.

 

He closes the tab and smiles at her, trying to not take pity on her. She doesn't need it. Arthur saw her on the stage - on YouTube video - she was brilliant and strong. And strong people don't need pity, they need encouragement. 

 

“You will have your clothes tomorrow” he promises. “Now we should eat.”

 

“I like this shirt, can I keep it?” she asks, sitting on the couch and wrapping the blanket over her shoulders. 

 

“Yes” he shrugs, it's not like he wears it anyway. “What do you like to eat?” 

 

“I don't know. Pancakes?”

 

“Isn't it too late for that?”

 

“Uncle sometimes makes us pancakes with cheese and ham or with sausage” she says. 

 

“Eames can cook?” Arthur asks before he can stop himself.

 

He knows people whom he works with, he is aware of the fact that when he was younger, Eames was selling drugs and this is how he stepped o n the  Somnacin in the first place, he knows that Eames is two years older but that he got to the army only a year before Arthur, he knows even that at some point he was in America - not long after he was realised from the army - fighting on the ring. Eames could kill a man in no time, he had friends in Russian ballet, there was a small country in Africa where the price for Eames' head was so high, it will probably ruin their economy, and that he had spent two years on the Paris College of Art. But Arthur didn't know that Eames can cook.

 

Sophie shrugs with a smile. “Only a little. When he leaves, he always promises that he will learn how to cook some dish from a country where he is going. And when he comes back he cooks for us...” she takes a deep breath to calm down and Arthur is impressed by the girl. He - in similar age and situation - would probably sit somewhere in the corner and cry. “Do you think he will be back?”

 

“Eames? Of course. Why not? He always comes back. Do you want to see the restaurants?” he asks and she nods so he sits next to her - not too close of course, not even close enough to touch her - and searches for the restaurants nearby. 

 

“Do we have to go there?” she ask looking at names of the restaurants which probably means nothing to her. 

 

“No, we will order here. But tomorrow... We need to buy you some clothes.” 

 

She looks at him.

 

“Uncle won't be home already?” she asks. 

 

“I have no idea where he is right now. It may take him some time to get here.” 

 

He doesn't explain that this is not Eames' 'home' because this girl went through some stuff recently and there is no need to get into irrelevant details.

 

She just nods and then looks at the laptop to finally pick up the food. They chose Italian restaurant, where she asked for spaghetti and he chose lasagne and now they are waiting. The silence is uncomfortable and he looks around wondering what they can do. 

 

“Do you want to watch some television?” he asks finally. 

 

“But you don't have telly” she notices surprised.

 

“No, but I have an internet and we can use it, you know.”

 

She smiles at him and nods. “Yes please. Do you like Disney?”

 

“As long as it's not any of their recent productions with young actors, it is fine.”

 

She shakes her head.

 

“No, I like the _Treasure Planet_ , actually. Can we watch it, please?”

 

The last time when he watched Disney, he was eight and it was really long time ago so he has no idea what the  _Treasure Planet_ is but if this is not a series with any of the smiling girls - which he sees on almost every corner of the street and every girls' part of clothes - then it shouldn't kill him, he thinks. 

 

As it happens, the animation isn't as bad as it could be, he even has some fun watching what Disney did to the poor Stevenson.

 

The food arrives in the middle of the film so Arthur leaves for a moment to pay and gets back with forks and they eat from the boxes.

She smiles and hums the songs under her breath, and she looks almost relaxed. Arthur doesn't believe in this calmness, he suspects that she just found a way to not to think about what happened. But if this is going to help her, then why not? 

After  _Treasure Planet_ they watch the third part of  _The Lion King_ and finally  _Hercules_ \- at which Arthur scoffs so much Sophie finally asks why he doesn't like it.

 

“Hera hated Hercules” he said. “The gods were like people, they looked alike, didn't glow and weren't that stupid. The whole Greek mythology is full of death, betrayal and punishment. And they made a god-damn story for children.”

 

She watches him carefully. “You think children should know about all the bad stuff in there?”

 

He sighs. She has a point, doesn't she? “No, but it is there because of reasons - the laws of Greek gods are very cruel but they are also usually legitimate. There was a reason why they were creating the stories and now Disney shows children some creepy, not-even-close to the origin stories.”

 

In the background a faun is singing about the hero he finally found and Arthur wonders shortly if there is even a reason why he talks about it. 

 

“But this is for children” she argues, frowning as she speaks. “And thanks to Disney children, even from outside of Europe, know that there was Hercules and that he fought with so many monsters. And they know that Zeus was his father and that Hades was the bad guy. Otherwise they would never know this.”

 

“But this story is so stupid!” he sighs. “I don't know, but _The Lion King_ was better, and you would say that you cannot show children the bloody _Hamlet_ because they will never understand, but look, they did.”

 

Her eyes widens. “ _The_ _Lion Kin_ g is  _Hamlet_ ?” she asks surprised. 

 

“Yes... You didn't know? And the second part is _Romeo and Juliet_ , if you were ever wondering. Did you read _Hamlet?”_

 

“We did read few pages and we were talking about the story but never read the whole play... Is it really? Can we watch it?”

 

Arthur - discovering that he quite likes the surprise on her face - agrees and they are spending next two hours watching the film - Sophie very carefully, pointing the parts of the plot she recognises from the play and Arthur explaining to her few points she missed or just observing - somehow proud - how she's reading the film. 

Maybe children aren't that bad after all. At least when you can teach them stuff and they are not idiots.

 

 

Arthur is used to work for long hours and he is quite surprised when Sophie falls asleep on the couch. When he looks at the watch - it's almost three am. He should probably mind more carefully the time she should go to sleep and not keep her long in the night. 

Deciding she shouldn't sleep in the living room since he gave her his bed he carries her to the bedroom. She doesn't wake up, even after what happened lately, happy child. She's heavier than Arthur expected and surprisingly warm. When he touches her head with his chick, he can feel how soft her hair is. He shouldn't probably enjoy it that much but he carefully puts her to bed and wraps the duvet around her. 

He leaves her, not closing the door.

 

The living room looks oddly dirty. He picks up the boxes and closes the laptop. The room smells with food and tea and this is all so unusual that he stops for a moment in the middle. Then he just shakes his head and goes to the bathroom to take a shower and change. 

Later he falls asleep on the couch, happy that it's so comfortable.

 


	2. Fox

Next day starts unexpectedly late. He wakes up at ten am and Sophie is still asleep. He makes tea and then goes to wake her up. When she grumbles in the bed with a mug, he goes to wash her clothes. He doesn't suspect she will be ready to leave the bed up to one pm but he wants to go shopping today. He cannot stand that she doesn't have more clothes. It's ridiculous. 

 

There's still no message from Eames but quick research makes Arthur sure that they still didn't catch him. He is almost certain that he would hear about it if they did.

Sophie walks to the kitchen eventually, looking like someone who needs more sleep. Arthur wonders if he should propose her coffee, but she is a small girl after all, she shouldn't drink coffee. 

 

“Morning” she murmurs.

 

“Good afternoon” he says and changes the tab on the laptop. “We are going shopping today.”

 

“Can I have a breakfast?” she asks, sitting down at the table. 

 

He shakes his head. “No, we have nothing to eat.”

 

She looks at him puzzled, waking up at last. “What do you have for breakfast then?” she asks.

 

“I don't eat breakfasts.”

 

“Are you a vampire?” 

 

He looks at her alarmed. He has heard some stuff about vampires in popular literature lately and he doesn't wish to even listen about it. 

 

“You could be” she continues, resting her chin on her hand. “You are so pale. Are you a vampire?”

 

“If you are trying to talk about. _Twilight_...” he starts but Sophie shakes her head a bit surprised. 

 

“Why? I was thinking about _Dracula_...”

 

He looks at her taken aback. She is bloody eight. Why would she know  _Dracula_ ?

 

“Have you read it?” he asks. 

 

“No, but mum...” she gets quiet and Arthur hates the way she lowers her gaze and tries to stop tears. He hates even more the people who did it. “Mum played Mina once. When she was at uni...” she continues after a short pause. “I saw pictures.”

 

Her belongings - Arthur thinks. He himself has only one suitcase of his personal things - the rest is meaningless to him. But how about her? She is a girl after all, she probably has toys and books she likes...

 

“I will give you clothes, go and take a bath, then we can go out” he says, thinking about something else.

 

Is he able to bring her stuff here? Technically yes but won't Eames react when he sees strangers on his sister's property? He could be angry. Well...

 

Before Sophie can go and take a bath Arthur gives her her clothes and then he goes to the kitchen, to make few phone calls. He has no idea what Eames wants to do with Sophie but he knows what he is good at and it is actually preparing stuff. So, for the moment Sophie is here, he is going to make sure she has at least few of her own things. Knowing people, and knowing people who are outside the law, helps. 

 

When the girl comes out, Arthur is dressed for shopping and he smiles at her lightly. He has done as much as possible, now he just needs to wait. 

She's wearing one of his t-shirts and her trousers, her hair are still wet and she looks miserable. After a short moment of hesitation, Arthur changes his suit for t-shirt and jeans to not look so different from her. She still looks miserable but at least no one can think now that she bought her in Ukraine. 

 

The day is sunny and warm and Arthur takes his car and even drops the car top to amuse her. At first she's still a little sad but it doesn't take long for her to cheer up. Especially when she can put his sunglasses on. He can't stop from smiling. 

 

“We will buy you sunglasses, you cannot wear mine”he says when they stops on the lights and he takes them off of her. 

 

“So, you are not a vampire” she says, sitting with her back to the door, so she can see him. 

 

“Legs off the seat” he orders immediately and she sighs but takes off the shoes. 

 

“Who are you then? Are you a film star?” 

 

“I might be” he smiles. “In what kind of movies you think I play?” he asks, looking at her.

 

“Gangster stuff!” she smiles. “We could be like Leon and Matilda!” 

 

“You watch surprising movies for a little girl.”

 

“Uncle lets me watch films with him. Sometimes when he can't sleep we watch them together. Or you could play in these black and white films about detectives!”

 

“They are actually black.”

 

“What?”

 

“This kind of movies you are talking about. They are called _films noirs_. The black movies. America in the 40s.” 

 

She grins. “How do you know it all? Do you know French?”

 

“A little, yes. _Parles tu français?_ ” 

 

She laughs and shook her head. “ _Je parle juste un peu de français_ ” 

 

He looks at her when they stop at the lights again, she is looking better with the smile, the cuts on her face are lighter and her hair are going wild because of the wind. But she looks happy and that makes her pretty. Arthur returns the smile even before he can think about it.

 

“What kind of clothes do you like? Do we have to go and look for some high heels and shirts?”

 

“Noooo...” she giggles. “I'm eight! And I like jumpers.”

 

“Oh yes, I can see that, but it's too hot for it. Luckily you don't have your uncle's style.”

 

“Noooo...! He looks so old! He sometimes wears my grandpa's shirts!” she laughs. 

 

Arthur raises his eyebrows because he always knew he smelled lavender.

 

They stop when Arthur finds a car park and they are finally going to the shop. The  air conditioning makes Arthur shrugs at first but he hooks the sunglasses behind his shirt and looks around. 

 

“Where do we start? You need some top, right?” 

 

When Sophie smiles at him and walks towards the children department and disappears among the racks, Arthur follows her with a smile, thinking not even once what anyone could think about it. 

She starts to pick up clothes and handing them to Arthur. At first he looks surprised but then he takes the t-shirts.

 

“Are you going to try all of these?” he asks after few minutes.

 

“You told me to shop, yes I am. I always wanted to do it!”

 

“I feel like in a Disney movie” he snorts but takes from her another hanger with trousers. 

 

They end up for almost an hour in the a changing room where Sophie tries on everything she picked up. He gets up finally and walks around the place again. There are few mothers with kids and he doesn't fit here - he knows - but he looks at few more things. He finds a skirt and a light shirt which can look good together, then he sees quite interesting shoes. Before he knows it he is looking for clothes, not even taking them, but only looking. He would never say that shopping for a little girl could be that interesting. 

 

Sophie finds him looking at dresses.

 

“Really? What are you doing?” she asks giggling. 

 

Arthur turns to her and takes the hanger off the rack. “Here, try this one too.”

 

“What?”

 

“You tried so many clothes already. Try this one too.”

 

She looks at him but goes back to the changing room. He waits for few moments and then follows her. Sophie needs only a while and then she sticks her head from behind the curtain. 

“Are you there?” 

 

“Yes” he smiles. 

 

So she walks out and he smiles widely. The dress is knee long, with dark blue bottom and brighter top. She smiles shyly. 

 

“Do you think it's good?” she asks and there is only a little bit of coquetryin her voice. 

 

“You look amazing. And you need it. Take what you like and let's go to pay for it.”

 

“Can I have blue shoes too?” she asks. 

 

Arthur nods of course and then they go to pay and she is wearing the dress and blue converse shoes and he carries her bags and she has sunglasses on her nose.

 

And maybe he has just found a way to help the girl to deal with the last few days? Who knows? 

 

 

He takes her later for ice-cream and they sit together at the table, she sideways again, resting against the wall with her legs outstretched in front of her. 

 

“How do you know uncle?” she asks suddenly. 

 

He cannot read her because she is wearing sunglasses but he shrugged.

 

“We work together.”

 

And it is hard to think about Eames and 'the Uncle' as the same person. He knows the man who is a fighter, a soldier, who kills people, flirts with everyone and forges everything. She's talking about a man who spoils her, comes to watch her plays and watches movies with her. Yet, they are talking about the same person. 

 

“And what do you do?” she asks, taking off the nuts from her ice cream and licking her fingers. 

 

“We agreed I am a movie star” he reminds. 

 

“And is uncle helping you? He could be a director.” 

 

“Oh no” Arthur laughs. “He could not. I would let him bring me water though. Or maybe not...”

 

She grins at him and takes off her sunglasses finally. She changes her position so she is facing him.

 

“Do you like uncle a lot?” she asks. “Because I think... That he likes someone a lot” she adds, leaning over the table. “Very much.”

 

Arthur raises his eyebrows. “Very much a lot indeed” he says - because this sounds more like Eames. “I think I like him” he agrees because - the hell - this is an eight years old girl and she needs to put her mind on something.

 

They sit for a bit longer and then they just go for a walk. They spend the day outside and Arthur notices that her skin is less pale. They go later to buy some groceries because there is still nothing at home. 

 

“I can cook pasta” she says standing in front of the shelf. “Can you cook?” 

 

“Yes, of course, it's not that hard” he shrugs, she gives him a look but says nothing. 

 

 

And this is how he ends up in the kitchen, with Sophie at his side, with website about cooking, trying to prepa re  Braised Chicken Thighs . He starts to feel like he will loose it and he hates loosing, especially in things as stupid as cooking. 

 

“Didn't I tell you that this isn't _that_ simple?” she asks and she sounds so much like Eames that Arthur needs to stop himself from snapping at her. It's not her fault after all that she is related to the very man who got under Arthur's skin.

 

“This _can't be_ that hard, Sophie.”

 

She sits down at the table.

 

“When did you last cooked?” she asks. 

 

“I had cooking class at seventh class” he admits frowning over the website. “What the hell is 'polenta'?” he murmurs. “That's just ridiculous.”

 

“We can order something, right?” she tries but Arthur shoots her an angry look.

 

“I can't loose against a chicken.”

 

But after an hour or so he gives up finally and they end up on the couch with pizza.

 

She looks at him and giggles.

 

“You are sulking because you cannot cook?” she asks. 

 

Arthur shrugs.

 

“Do you want to watch something?” he asks instead of answering.

 

“Oh yes, I was thinking about _Pocahontas_. Did you know it's based on a true story?”

 

“Yeah, but the true wasn't that pretty actually” he says and plays the film.

 

“Something like with _Hercules_?” she asks.

 

“Yes.” 

 

Arthur never saw the film and he is surprised to see how erotic it is. Sophie eats the last piece of pizza and moves closer to Arthur. She sits for a moment next to him, with her knees under her chin, then she changes position lightly and soon - and for the love of God Arthur doesn't know how - she is just next to him, resting against him lightly. 

And Arthur makes sure he doesn't flinch, he lowers his arm instead and hugs her lightly. He can feel that Sophie cries at the end but it is better that she cries over the movie and not over her life. Or this is what Arthur thinks at least. 

 

Sophie almost falls asleep in the middle of the second movie - this time it's  _Tangled_ \- and Arthur sends her to bed. 

He works for some time, finishing the research and sending the report to Cobb. He keeps an eye on the news but there are still no news about Eames. This is good actually. Means they haven't catch him yet. He asked for information if anyone hears about Eames' death - a request which shouldn't be treated lightly. And which shouldn't even be made, as it speaks a lot about the one who asked. 

But this is the third day and he should go to sleep for more than just few hours because children need a lot of attention and he knows he needs to be rested. 

So he takes the shower and goes to sleep on the couch. He knows he will need to find out something, because he cannot stay on the couch, this is ridiculous. 

 

Arthur wakes up at some point, it's still dark and he looks around. Sophie stands next to the couch, in a too big t-shirt. He can read her posture so he only raises the blanket and she slides next to him. Her face is wet and her shoulders are shaking. He lies down behind her and when he hugs her, she pretends that she's not crying so he pretends that he doesn't see it. Eventually she falls asleep tired. 

 

 

The next morning is very quiet. Arthur wakes up first but waits until Sophie gets up, and then he pretends he's still asleep so she can sneak out to the bathroom. He is impressed by her – so much that he gets up and walks to the kitchen to make pancakes. This time he even succeeded. 

When Sophie enters the room, she is wearing new jeans and a t-shirt with Donald Duck and she wrinkles her nose. 

 

“Are you trying to kill us again?” she asks sitting at the table. 

 

Someone knocks and Arthur frowns. He leaves the spatula and the pan and goes to the door. He is a little paranoid but it is because of his work of course. The man on the other side is from FedEx and Arthur reaches for the gun hidden in the jacket.

 

He opens the door.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Package for Arthur Pennyworth” the guy says and Arthur rolls his eyes. He puts the gun back and signs the acknowledge of the receipt. 

 

“Thank you” he says, taking the package. 

 

It's quite light and he hopes it's not damaged. He closes the door, before the man can see too much of the flat.

 

“Sophie” he calls and goes back to the kitchen, where she is making another pancake. “They are too thin” he says and she looks at him.

 

“I like them that way” she shrugs. 

 

He leaves the package on the table and walks over to her to take the spatula.

 

“It's for you.”

 

She looks at him again but then goes to the table. He doesn't turn around when he hears opening the box, he can hear that she is taking it out of the kitchen. For a second he wonders if he should help her but he knows better than that. It is the moment for her so he stays in the kitchen and finishes their breakfast. The pancakes are almost cold before she returns. She was crying but he says nothing - neither about it, nor about the necklace she is wearing. 

 

“Do you want some Nutella on your pancakes?” he asks and she nods.

 

They eat in silence and Arthur almost regrets getting that package, it's clear now that she wasn't ready for it. He's doing the dishes wondering what to do to make her feel better, when she walks over to him - he can hear her - and she hugs him quickly.

 

“Thank you” she murmurs. 

 

Arthur says nothing because there is nothing to say. But he wonders when Sophie has managed to get so close to him. He hopes it's just because she is Eames' family and posses the same easiness in just being close with people, and not the fact that he's getting older. 

 

“Do you want to do something?” he asks a bit later, when she's sitting on the couch with book. 

 

“No. Do you have some ice tea?” she asks looking at him. 

 

Arthur shakes his head and goes to the bedroom to change the sheets and then he's going to do the laundry because living with someone generates lots of dirty everything, from dishes to clothes. And he really likes the flat clean.

 

Sophie stays on the couch for the most of the day which is fine with Arthur because he has got an email from Cobb with notes about the report and he has to take care of it. Only sometimes when she goes to the kitchen, she brings him tea - she has the same maddening custom of bringing people tea without even asking - but they didn't even talk much, she is reading and he is working. 

 

 

In the evening they order French dinner and Arthur tries to talk to Sophie in French but with little luck.

 

“Can you read me?” she asks finally.

 

“What?”

 

“I don't know, something French?” she is looking up and he smiles at her. 

 

“Fine. If you can ask for it in French.”

 

She grins. “Um...  _P_ _ ouvais _ _-tu me lire_ ?”

 

He grins in return and takes the laptop. It's easy to find  _The Little Price_ in French so he sits down on the couch with Sophie at his hide and reads to her. She probably doesn't understand much but she listens to him and smiles a little. He hugs her - when she doesn't protest - and it is so good to have her and just to spend time with her. And this is surprising for him because he usually works when he's back home, or he learns. He doesn't just sit and read books he cannot use one day. 

 

“You sound different now, you know?” she murmurs, with her cheek pressed to his arm. 

 

“How different? It's called French, you know?”

 

She shakes her head. “No, your voice is different, like... Softer. I like it” she smiles.

 

“It's late anyway, you should go to bed.”

 

She wines. “I don't want to.”

 

“I will read you to sleep. Just change into pyjamas” Arthur promises because he remembers that she came to sleep with him and he doesn't want this to happen again. Because of many reasons. 

 

When she goes to the bathroom he goes to the kitchen to make her tea. She is British after all, they have tea for every occasion. Sophie walks to the bedroom and Arthur knocks at the door a few moments later. 

 

“Ready?” he asks. 

 

The room looks different, Sophie has a toy dog in the bed, her new clothes are on the bed and the armchair, the opened box is still in the room with few things inside. Arthur looks around quickly and then sits next to her on the bed with the laptop.

 

“Lie down” he asks and covers her, then starts to read again. 

 

She falls asleep quickly and he gives her the dog, she has it with her for a reason, he thinks. 

 

It's only eleven pm so Arthur sits with his laptop to check the Eames' case. But before he can even go through half of his canals he hears a soft knocking. He gets up and reaches for the gun, checking who is on the other side - in the a dark corridor he sees a dark figure. He unlocks the door and opens it, holding the gun ready. 

 

“Hi darling, sorry, I'm late” Eames says weakly and Arthur opens the door wider. 

 

“Eames... Come in” he lets him in and locks the door again. “Took you long” he adds, putting the gun down before Eames can do something stupid. 

 

“I know, Arthur, I'm sorry. I just came to pick up Sophie...”

 

In the light from the living room Arthur can see that Eames looks like a dead man and that he's barely standing. The thought that he could take Sophie somewhere is just ridiculous.

 

“Out of the question, I'm not giving you the child back just yet. We must be sure you two are safe” he says and walks closer to him. “And you look like you are going to fall. Come” he passes by Eames, just close enough to see blood on his shirt. “Are you seriously injured?”

 

“Nah, nothing serious” he walks behind Arthur. “Is she alright?” he asks. 

 

Arthur nods and goes to the bathroom. Maybe keeping more just one spare toothbrush isn't that stupid after all. In the strong, white light, Eames looks really bad. Arthur looks at him quickly in the mirror and then opens the first aid kit.

 

“Take off your clothes, I want to make sure you don't need stitches.” 

 

Eames leans against the door. “Thank you, Arthur but I am really fine.”

 

Arthur turns to him - there is blood on the side of his hideous shirt, he is protecting his left leg, and judging by the look of his face, someone really didn't like it. Arthur comes closer and touches his nose. There's still some blood around nostrils but it looks more like dirt now. 

 

“Oi!” Eames backs up.

 

Arthur winces and pulls Eames inside and closes the door.

 

“Don't be a child, Eames, I'm just checking if you don't have your nose broken.”

 

“I feel like I should make a comment on the fact that we are in a bathroom and that you are standing very close indeed” Eames smiles weakly. 

 

Arthur looks at him putting his hands down.

 

“Save it for the time you are not bloody and dirty, okay? Take off your clothes and show me what you have there.”

 

“I waited for this my whole life...” Eames chuckles slowly unbuttoning the shirt. 

 

“Not bloody and dirty” Arthur reminds and turns around to put on gloves.

 

He takes the towel and wets it a little and then turns to - it happens - a view of disaster. It's not like he never saw bigger mess, or some old rag used as a bandage, or this shade of purple on someone's ribs, or even this amount of dirt and blood smeared into the skin. It's just, he never saw all of this on Eames at the same time.

 

“Where the hell have you been?” he asks and comes closer to carefully take off the rag, and he needs to use scissors to remove it gently. Underneath is a knife wound, deep and bloody, with parts of cloth inside and Arthur sighs and stars to clean it up. 

 

“Darling, have you heard about painkillers?” Eames wines. 

 

“By the way you look, Eames, I judge you can take some pain. I will give you something later. Can you tell me what happened?”

 

He kneels next to Eames, because Eames is sitting on the toilet seat and the wound is quite low on his ribs. The man stinks and maybe by some miracle, the wound hasn't start to rot yet. Arthur is too much of a professional to even wrinkle his nose but it isn't a pretty thing. 

 

“Did you get them?” he asks but he knows that this is a stupid question - Eames would have never come back if he hadn't finished them off. 

 

“Yes.” 

 

“Who were they?”

 

Eames shrugs. “Some old job went wrong.” Arthur sees like he clenches his fists, his knuckles are crashed and bloody.

 

“She's fine, cried a little but she should be fine” he says in the same emotionless tone. “Very strong girl. She talked a lot about you.”

 

“Started a new file on me, didn't you?” Eames asks with a smirk. 

 

Arthur lets himself smile because why not? He will need to be careful now, with the two of them around, but it's late and Eames looks like he could use some spoiling.

 

“Maybe. I have only a couch for you.”

 

“As much as I do appreciate, darling, I cannot accept. I must take her from here.”

 

Arthur doesn't freeze, not at all. But when he speaks there is cold in his voice.

 

“I won't let you take her away from here just yet, I've told you. You look like trash, she will be scared. You don't have any normal clothes, but she could get used to it already. And it's the middle of the fucking night, Eames. I didn't put her to sleep just for you to wake her up.” And now he is angry, because the girl had enough lately and she is trying so much to be okay and normal and to stay calm and strong. And Eames cannot ruin this for her because that could be too much for a girl like Sophie. 

 

“How do you know I don't have a place to take her to?” Eames asks stiff. 

 

Arthur looks up at him because really, he never heard anything that stupid in his whole life.

 

“Because I don't remember finding you one” he says with a smirk. 

 

Eames' face breaks into a smile and he lets his hand on Arthur's shoulder.

 

“Thank you. But I still cannot accept the couch. You have been sleeping on it, clearly.”

 

“And what would make you say that?” Arthur asks and gets back to the work because he doesn't want to spend the whole night in the bathroom with half naked Eames. 

 

“I cannot fail to notice that you are in your boxers, Arthur, and taking your lack of imagination, this is probably what you call a pyjamas.” 

 

Arthur rolls his eyes and doesn't comment, because he is a professional, even when he's on his knees, in his bathroom, in the middle of the night stitching Eames. Professional, you see.

 

He gets up finally and sighs. “Don't move” he asks and he only takes the towel and antiseptic to clean up the wound from dirt. “You should thank God, it's not infected.” 

 

“I appreciate your help, darling.” 

 

Arthur cleans the wound carefully and changes the gloves before he starts to stitch him.

 

“Of course you do” he says. “I will think of a re-pay.”

 

Arthur keeps working and when he looks up later, he sees Eames fell asleep. Arthur raises his eyebrows and just put the plaster over the stitches and then moves to clean up the rest of Eames' chest.

 

There's a lot of bruises and cuts but luckily no ribs are broken. It all looks bad at first but after he cleans him a little, it's better. Still bruised but not that seriously looking.

 

Arthur gets up and takes off the gloves.

 

“Eames?” he says and Eames wakes up immediately. “We are done, I'll give you a pyjamas and you can go to sleep. Come.”

 

Eames mumbles something but gets up and follows Arthur back to the living room. Arthur reconsiders the pyjamas and decides it's pointless. He only sits Eames and kneels to take his shoes off.

 

“You are on your knees again and I can do nothing about it” Eames sighs. 

 

Arthur snorts and gets up, taking the shoes. He leaves them in the hall and then goes to the kitchen and takes some painkillers to give him. When he returns, Eames is half asleep again but Arthur wakes him up.

 

“Swallow it” he says and Eames smiles weakly. 

 

“For you? Always, darling” he murmurs and takes pills before laying down on the couch. 

 

Arthur sighs heavily and gently covers him with the blanket. Eames murmurs something but Arthur cannot understand him so he only strokes his hair once and walks back to the bathroom to clean it up.

 

He doesn't go to sleep looking for any information suggesting that Eames may have a tail. But Eames - as usual - knows how to do his job so it looks like everything is fine. Again, Arthur is a paranoid little shit, and he knows he is, so he has to check it anyway. 

 


	3. Snake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 13k of fluff. I'm proud of myself.  
> Thank you for reading the third chapter! I hope you will like it!

It looks like he had to fall asleep after all because when he jerks awake, he is in his living room, in the armchair and it's oddly brightly. From the kitchen he can hear two voices and for a second he doesn't now why. Then he remembers that Eames came back last night so he gets up and walks to the bathroom. It's bad enough that Eames saw him sleeping, there is no need to feed his obsession with sleepiness. Arthur knows very well that he looks defenceless when he wakes up so he wants to take a shower and change into something more than just boxers and a t-shirt. 

 

When he finally enters the kitchen, he is dressed up in a t-shirt and jeans and his hair is still wet. Eames stands at the cooker, preparing something smelling like omelets and Sophie sits at the table in a t-shirt and a skirt. 

 

“Hi” she smiles at Arthur and Eames turns to see him. He is smiling, his face is bruised and he still looks tired but it looks like he has more strength now. In a clean t-shirt - one of Arthur's oversized ones - and in his boxers, he looks ridiculous, just as looks the dark bruise on his calf. 

 

“Hi” Arthur says to the girl and goes to make himself some coffee. “I see you feel at home” he says to Eames. 

 

“Always, darling” Eames grins at him. “Sophie here, told me you can't cook.”

 

“She said something completely opposite about you though” Arthur says, looking at Eames with a challenge. And the one second of Eames' hesitation when he's clearly going in is head through everything the girl knows about him, is enough price to make Arthur smile. 

 

He takes his coffee and sits down at the table. Sophie looks at him smiling widely. She is completely different, happier, relieved. She wasn't like that yesterday and Arthur - which is highly illogical since he knows her for few days - feels a bit jealous. Not even for the girl's reaction towards Eames but for the fact that there's someone who can be so happy when Eames is coming back.

 

“Tomato and ham will do, darling?” Eames asks and Arthur raises his head to discover that this was a question for him. Eames placed a plate in front of Sophie. 

 

“Yes” Arthur says finally and hates himself for both - the surprise and the warm feeling when Eames smiles at him before he turns back to the cooker.

 

Arthur never had any trust issues, he understands that in his job there are tones of people he should not trust and also that people may get hurt because of his work, if he's not careful. But at the same time he was so used to living alone that he is surprised how easy it was for him to get attached to Sophie and how good it feels to have both of them in the kitchen.

 

“Well petal, what were you doing when I was away?” Eames asks in a cheerful tone.

 

“We went shopping.”

 

“Do we need to buy you a suitcase as well?” Eames chuckles. 

 

“Do we need to go already?” she asks. 

 

Eames smiles at her warmly. “I am sure Arthur wants to have his bedroom back, love. Remember he has to sleep on the couch.”

 

She looks at Arthur immediately. “I'm sorry...”

 

“Don't apologise, you don't have to. Even if Eames wants to take you from here, I won't let him” he says looking at her seriously. “I think he's sick and should rest.”

 

Sophie nods vigorously and looks at Eames. “Please uncle... I... don't want to go back...”

 

“But you have school, love.”

 

“Arthur can teach me” she grins and they both look at her surprised. 

 

“Arthur?” Eames raises his eyes on him but Arthur shrugs. 

 

“Yes, he is an actor. We agreed on that earlier” she grins. 

 

“Arthur?” Eames laughs and this hurts Arthur's pride a little. “But he is a terrible actor.”

 

“I am good looking” he notices and this time Eames nods. 

 

“Well yes, you are, but, and I'm saying it only because I care about you, darling, you _are_ a terrible actor.”

 

“Maybe I've just never tried it with you?”

 

“Oh darling, but you did. I just never believed you hated me so much.”

  
And Arthur could kick him for this smile but he looks miserable without it.

 

“Should we go and buy some clothes for uncle? He looks like he forgot his suitcase...” Sophie asks and they both look at themselves. 

 

“No...” Arthur says, because Eames ,of course, is only smiling. “I don't know if it's necessary. Uncle can find himself clothes.”

 

“Oh but I would love if you could help me. I mean, Sophie, I would be more than grateful for your assistance. You look just sooo good...” he winks at her. “Do you think we need Arthur as well?”

 

She grins and nods. “He has a car. And he can drive the wrong side of the road.”

 

“That's right!” he nods. “Arthur, darling, please please come with us” he looks at Arthur. 

 

“Please, please, please...” Sophie joins him and Arthur finally smiles. 

 

“I think you will be just helpless without me” he shrugs and sips his coffee. 

 

The food is surprisingly great and Arthur just can't help thinking about how they cooked before with Sophie and wonders when it will blow in his face when Sophie tells Eames about this.

 

They go to the shopping later. Arthur behind the wheel, Eames in the passenger seat and Sophie in the back, sideways with the book. 

 

“Arthur, darling, I cannot thank you enough for taking care of the little one. She is my whole world.”

 

Arthur looks at him surprised by the statement. It is not common to hear something like this in their job. And if he hadn't seen him earlier with Sophie, he would think this is a lie. But Eames really loved her. 

 

“It is my job to clean up the mess, after all” he says. “How are your ribs?”

 

“Full of colour. You can say that I feel that I'm alive.”

 

Arthur throws him a glance and then focuses on the road again.

 

“What do you think I would have been supposed to do if you hadn't come back” he says, because somewhere deep inside, he was afraid of this kind of situation. 

 

“You would figure something out” Eames says with a grin. 

 

“Uncle needs sunglasses as well!” Sophie says, leaning between their seats. “And we are no longer Leon and Matilda, we need to find someone else to be.”

 

Eames looks at Arthur but he pretends he doesn't see it.

 

“We will, think about any other movie with a girl in it, one we may fit with” he promises.

She grins and sits back.

 

“I was worried at some point” Eames admits. “That I've left you with so much but it almost looks like you like her.” 

 

“Because I do” Arthur admits and this time it is Eames' turn to look surprised. 

 

They go to the shop and for a moment Arthur hopes he will be able to put Eames into some normal clothes but the hope dies very quickly when they go between the racks with Sophie and she helps him to pick up the most weird clothes. And Arthur hasn't even suspected they can have this kind of shirts in here.

 

''Darling, are you okay?” Eames asks, coming to him with another turquoise shirt in his hand. “You look pale.”

 

“Do you even _care_ what you wear?” he asks because he thinks he may faint, especially seeing Sophie with maching orange socks. 

 

“Of course I do. But, you see, I have to keep my style.”

 

“Then you should close your eyes and just pick up anything” he snorts and goes away. 

 

He does not intent to look for anything for Eames, especially since he will probably not wear it but Arthur just can't stop himself. He finds him sweat pants and a loose hoodie - so he can sleep in it since he will have to sleep on the couch - and then walks to them with the clothes. 

 

Eames turns to him and immediately smiles.

 

“Oh darling, you didn't have to...”

 

“I will have to look at you, Eames. Of course I had to” he snorts but only half hearted. 

 

He is surprised when Eames comes closer to take the clothes from his hand and then he notices one of the shop assistants looking at them. He needs to reach for his totem but he stops himself, that would look suspicious. 

 

“Did you steal something from here?” he asks, looking after Sophie who is now on the quest to find perfect sunglasses for Eames. 

 

“No. They just think we look cute together” Eames smiles very close to his ear and then kisses Arthur's cheek quickly turning away to follow after his niece. 

 

And this time Arthur knows it is not a dream because then he would have a gun in his hand and he could kill Eames.

 

 

At the end Eames buys more clothes than they picked up for Sophie and they go for a dinner. Arthur buys few things for the aid and a new spare toothbrush since they used both he had, and they settle for a Chinese restaurant. 

 

“I've met a woman once” Eames says over the food and Arthur hopes this is a story suitable for children. “Who said that in oriental cuisine you need two things - one is a cleaver and second one is a wok. I think this is just enough for me. I could be a master of oriental cuisine.”

 

“But you are not Asian” Sophie grins. “Arthur tried to make pancakes and he couldn't” she adds giggling. 

 

Arthur sighs, here we go...

 

“Oh Arthur, darling, you should have asked, I would give you some lessons more than gladly.” 

 

But before Arthur can even rolls his eyes Sophie grins.

 

“But not with shepherd's pie.”

 

He winces theatrically and takes a sip of his green tea.

 

“This is the shame I have to bear my whole life” he admits. “Never to be able to prepare a decent shepherd's pie.” 

 

She giggles again and even Arthur finds himself smiling. He can try to pretend he's not enjoying himself when he's with Eames, but when they are all three here and Sophie is smiling looking at both of them, he thinks there is no point.

And he knows, because he can  _feel_ it, that people are looking at them, and he even  _saw_ Eames smiling at the waitress in this special way - how does he know it's special is an unimportant detail - and he can't really force himself to pretend. Who the hell cares? They are having a good time, screw the rest, he thinks. 

 

They go to the cinema later, to watch a new Disney movie and Sophie seats between them, with 3D glasses on her nose and a large coke and popcorn on Eames' lap and Arthur has the time of his life, especially when they later go to the car singing the only song they think they remember. 

 

Arthur grins and opens the car for them.

 

“Get in, you two. I'll take you straight to Broadway.”

 

“Straight is not my favourite direction, to tell the truth” Eames says, getting in. “And I think that the little one needs to go to sleep soon” he adds, looking at the back of the car. 

 

Arthur looks at her too, she is hugging her new cup with a long straw and she is smiling but she indeed looks tired. 

 

“Will you read me, Arthur?”

 

“Sure” he smiles and drives back home.

 

Eames is silent on the way back, Arthur still smiles to himself. When they arrive, Sophie is almost asleep and Eames carries her to the flat. Even though they put her to bed in her clothes, taking off only shoes, Arthur sits with her and reads her two pages of  _The_ _ Little Prince _ . He is somehow happy that she doesn't hear the part about snake. 

 

He leaves the door closed and he goes to the kitchen where Eames is making tea.

 

“You bought it today, didn't you?” he asks. 

 

“You have here a British child, of course I bought the tea” Eames shrugs. 

 

Arthur sits down at the table and quickly checks his connections but it's still quiet after what Eames done, maybe he really got everyone.

 

“What was it all about?” he asks not looking up from the screen.

 

“They wanted me so they got them, it is my fault. I've done this to her” Eames says with no emotion at all, like he's only repeating something he's been telling himself for a long time. 

 

“Of course you haven't. You almost got killed to chase them and protect her, don't be stupid, Eames” Arthur snaps and gets up to make himself some coffee. 

 

“Isn't there a bit too late for that, darling?”

 

Arthur looks at him irritated.

 

“Show me the wound” he asks instead. 

 

“Darling...” Eames smiles and Arthur has to roll his eyes. 

 

“I need to see if it's fine.”

 

“You did it, of course it's perfect.” Eames says but goes to the bathroom. He comes back in the trousers Arthur bought him today and with the hoodie in his hands, shirtless. 

 

Arthur looks at him - it looks better since he has taken a shower but it needs a new plaster. Eames watches Arthur and Arthur knows it so he's keeping his hands steady when he examines the wound, it's just slightly swollen but Eames doesn't even wince when Arthur touches the skin gently. 

 

“Does it hurt?” Arthur asks and he doesn't control his voice as good as his hands. Eames is so close and so warm. The left part of his chest is dark purple with yellowish edges, and he has a deep cut on the side, there are cuts and bruises on his forearms and his knuckles - which Arthur examines later - are still smashed... Eames takes his chin gently and raises his head. 

 

“Thank you Arthur” he says simply.

 

Arthur wonders if he will kiss him. Or maybe if he should do this first. Or maybe it's not about kissing at all. But he can't stop looking at his lips.

 

“You trusted me with her” he says because his brain can work in tough situations and Eames' thumb stroking his cheek is such situation. 

 

“I knew she will be safe with you. You can hide and protect your house.”

 

“You found me.” 

 

Eames smiles and this just makes his lips more desirable. “I know you.”

 

Arthur snorts and then leans closer to kiss Eames. Because what the hell, he had dinner with him today, they were in a cinema and it calls for a kiss. And Arthur really wants it.

 

Eames kisses him back tangling his fingers in Arthur's hair but then he lowers his head on his shoulder and he stays like this. Arthur hesitates for a moment but then hugs him. He is so warm, Arthur thinks he may be sick but he stops himself from checking. Eames wraps his arms around his waist and presses his nose in Arthur's neck. And before Arthur knows, he is stroking his hair gently. 

 

“You will be alright” he says because he feels like he needs to say _something_ and that sounds pretty good too. 

 

It should be more awkward, hugging a man you know for so many years, who helped you so many times, who shoot you on few occasions, who you track occasionally and who flirts with you since you've met... Okay, maybe it shouldn't be that awkward after all.

He presses his lips to Eames' head and then pushes him away slightly. 

 

“Come on, let's put you to bed.” 

 

“We don't have a bed, darling. But I am more than happy to share the couch with you. You need to sleep, you know” he smiles and Arthur smirks but brushes his fingers along the bruise on his jaw. 

 

“Yeah, come. You look like shit.”

 

Eames laughs and puts on the hoodie. They go to the living room, one with his coffee and the other with his tea. Arthur sits in the armchair with laptop and Eames on the couch, sighing. 

 

“I'm sorry we took your bed.”

 

“Your bad, really.” 

 

Eames chuckles. “You are good with children actually.”

 

Arthur doesn't look up. “You seems surprised.”

 

“You keep surprising me all the time, darling” he chuckles, playing with a string of his hoodie. “It looks like you are excellent in everything you do.”

 

Arthur smirks. “Now you just want something.”

 

Eames grins. “You know me too good, darling. I just couldn't fail to notice the care you took with putting Sophie to bed. Is there any chance I will get this special attention too?”

 

This time Arthur looks at him. He waits for a moment but Eames says nothing.

 

“But you are going to sleep” he says eventually and walks over to sit on the couch next to Eames.

 

“Can't you lay down with me?” Eames asks watching him.

 

“No, I have to work.”

 

“You work too much, darling” he takes the laptop from him and smiles at him. “We must go to sleep” he takes his hand. 

 

“I need to change” Arthur says. Eames strokes his hand and lets go of him. 

 

“Go there darling.” 

 

Arthur leaves him and goes to take a shower and change. He checks his phone before turning off the sound - he believes that it will start to ring just the moment he falls asleep - and returns to Eames, who is watching the television.

 

“I thought we are going to sleep” Arthur says, sitting next to him. 

 

“Hitchcock” Eames says as it explains everything. 

 

Arthur throws the blanket over their legs as they watch  _Vertigo_ , Arthur trying not to think about the fact that Eames has nothing under the hoodie, what suddenly becomes very tempting. 

 

“Lie down” Arthur asks when he sees that Eames starts to doze off.

 

“But you are staying?” 

 

“Of course.” 

 

He sighs and lies down with his head on Arthur's lap. He can hardly watch the movie but he stays like this and eventually he falls asleep. Arthur keeps watching because he likes to finish what he started and then he only turns off the television and raises Eames' head lightly. He wakes up of course and looks surprised.

 

“Sorry” Arthur says as he gets up. 

 

“Come here” Eames grabs his hand. 

 

“Your chest, Eames. You are bruised...” 

 

Eames pulls him down and presses his face in the crock of Arthur's neck. “Stay, Arthur...” he murmurs and Arthur feels his lips moving on his skin.

 

“Fine.” 

 

He lies down and Eames covers them with the blanket and hugs him. Arthur tries not to hurt him and just make himself comfortable, he is surprised how warm Eames is, he closes his eyes and just enjoys the feeling for a moment. Eames kisses his head and hides his nose in Arthur's hair and Arthur can tell when he falls asleep. 

 

Arthur strokes his hand ,slowly falling asleep himself. 

 

 

They wake up at the same time when the door to the bedroom closes. Sophie goes to the bathroom and Eames sighs.

 

“Do you think she will go back to sleep?” he asks and Arthur murmurs in response into Eames' shoulder, pressing harder against him to hide from the morning light. “Oi... darling...” he winces and that is enough for Arthur to wake up. 

 

“I'm sorry.”

 

“No, it's nothing...” he says when Arthur sits. Eames sits up and kisses his shoulder. “Can't we go back to the sleep?”

 

“On the couch in the living room? With your niece next door? Forget it. Find the bed, we can talk then.” 

 

Eames looks at him somehow considerably.

 

“Are you serious?” he asks. 

 

Arthur looks back at him and kisses him. “Yes, I am.”

 

Eames grins at him and Arthur gets up.

 

Sophie goes to the kitchen and smiles at Arthur who is making tea for her.

 

Her hair are a mess and she yawns all the time.

 

He puts the mug in front of her and she smiles like a cat.

 

“Thank you...” she purrs. 

 

Eames comes in few minutes later, when Sophie eats corn flakes watching TV, he stands behind Arthur and rests his chin on his shoulder.

 

“Have you checked the wound? Is it okay?” Arthur asks and he feels that Eames smiles. 

 

“Yes, it's fine, darling” he wraps his hands around his waist. “I will take Sophie home” he says. 

 

Arthur freezes for a second but then nods.

 

“Do you have a place to stay with her?”

 

“Yes, I have a flat in London” he says. 

 

“I know. I hope it's not full of empty bottles or something.” 

 

Eames chuckles brushing his lips against Arthur's neck. “I can take care of my own niece.”

 

“I hope so” he snorts. “Otherwise I will have to come and kick your ass.”

 

Eames chuckles. “I've never thought you can get attached to someone so soon” he admits.

 

“She is a great girl. I know where the whole charm went to in this family.” 

 

Eames laughs and kisses his shoulder before stepping away to make himself tea.

 

Arthur looks at him and finishes his coffee.

 

“When are you going?”

 

“Today.” 

  
Arthur winces and wants to leave but Eames grabs him and pulls him for a hug.

 

“You promised you will come.”

 

“No” Arthur says, sulking. “I told you to find the bed. And then we can stay in it.” 

 

Eames grins and kisses him. “I will find you  _the_ best bed if you only decide to stay in it with me, darling.” 

 

Arthur smirks and leaves him, going to the living room to sit with Sophie.

 

“I need you to be brave, okay?” he starts seriously. 

 

She looks at him.

 

“Why?”

 

Arthur takes a deep breath. “Because you are going back home with uncle. And I know this can get messy. I mean... He can probably lose all suitcases at the airport and you have lots of good clothes, it would be a pity to loose it.” She starts to smile finally. “And of course there are his clothes too. He finally have some nice clothes even if he cannot put them together in any sane way. You need to protect him from himself... Do you think you can do it?” he asks and she grins and hugs him.

 

“Yeah. I can help him.” 

 

Eames comes in with a cup of tea and sits in the armchair. 

 

“I've heard you, Arthur. I'm not that helpless, you know.” 

 

“Can't you go with us?” Sophie asks looking up at Arthur. And it is very nice that she wants him to be and that he is so important.

 

“I must make some arrangements. And so must your uncle.”

 

“And by arrangements he means a new house of course. With a room for himself” Eames smiles. 

 

“House?” Arthur freezes. “We didn't talk about a house.”

 

“Fine, a flat then. With a place for everyone” he adds smiling at Arthur and Arthur may actually blush. 

 

“And who will be reading me?” Sophie asks. 

 

“I will” Arthur looks at the TV, stroking her hair gently. “I will come up early enough to read you to sleep.” 

 

She giggles but stays close to him, resting her head on his chest and watching.

Eames looks at them for a moment before he turns to the television and they spend the morning on the couch with tea.

 

Around two Eames starts to pick up Sophie's things and Arthur helps them packing. He even gives them his suitcase.

Before evening they are ready to go and Arthur finds himself walking them to the airport, holding Sophie's hand.

 

“Remember” Eames says. “You are my daughter and your surname is Morrison.” 

 

Arthur shakes his head. “I don't believe you are actually doing it.”

 

“Darling...” Eames smiles at him. “It's all about the style.” 

 

Sophie giggles and Arthur shakes his head again before dropping to his knees to hug her. 

 

“If anything goes bad, you have my number, call me. I know he sometimes looks bad in the morning but you must be strong. And since you like milk in your tea, I think you can survive without me for a moment.”

 

She grins and hugs him. “Will you come quickly? So I won't start to wear clothes like uncle.”

 

Arthur makes a face and looks at Eames. “I forbid you to buy her any clothes” he says.

 

But Eames looks at them with such a smile that Arthur has to smile back.

 

“Anyway” he turns to Sophie. “I will miss you terribly. Don't do anything stupid and just keep up until I'll come to see you, okay?” 

 

She nods and kisses his cheek. “Just don't make it long.”

 

“I will call you in the evening” he smiles and she finally goes with Eames. 

 

They just look at each other and Eames smiles at him widely.

 

“Waiting for you at home, darling.” 

 

He takes Sophie's hand and they are going into the crowd. Arthur watches them and Sophie really turns to wave goodbye before they finally disappear.

 

Then he returns home which feels more empty than ever before and he discovers that he doesn't like it at all. He walks around the place and finds the plush dog still on his bed with a short note: 'You must come to give him back'. He smiles and looks around, the blanket is still folded on the couch, there are dishes in the sink and empty pizza boxes by the bin. 

 

Arthur rolls up his sleeves and starts to clean up. He needs to prepare the flat for his leave.

 

He doesn't know when, but he knows that he will be leaving soon.

 

March 2015

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time... 
> 
> The man looked at Sophie but she only smiled at him. 
> 
> “Your name is Sophie Morrison?” he asked and she nodded. “And this is your daddy?”
> 
> “Yes! We came to visit dad's boyfriend” she grins and Eames tries to keep straight face.


End file.
